Clip-on ring promises perfect lighting for more fabulous selfies

This site may earn affiliate commissions from the links on this page. Terms of use.

Selfies aren’t going away. There’s an entire market of devices facilitating and encouraging the behavior and it only continues to grow. The latest addition to this line of gadgets is still nowhere near as annoying as selfie sticks, which is a close second to the “vuvuzela” in most irritating inventions. This latest devices is a ring light attachment for you smartphone, which allows users to take “glamor selfies.”

The invention, known as the Kira, comes from the mind of photographer Julie Watai. She’s currently seeking public funding on the Japanese site Kibi-Dango in order to get her idea off the ground and into the hands of consumers, so stay your wallets folks.

The motivation behind the device was simple, Watai says most smartphones aren’t up to the task of taking photos in dark-lit rooms—the resulting image is often underexposed and quite grainy. But Watai took the ring flash accessory she uses for photographing during her day job and shrunk it down to clip onto an iPhone.

In her experience, the light from Kira can do wonders for one’s complexion, allowing a photographer to produce “a powerful, beautiful skin effect and catch light in the eyes.” In addition, the amount of light can even be adjusted, so you don’t blind yourself during your selfie photo-shoot. It’s Kim Kardashian’s dream accessory.

The final design will rely on its own internal batteries, which means swapping out AAAs every once in a while. Though, there’s been no word on estimated battery life. The design of the Kira looks like a large, circular clip for your phone, so it will presumably be accessible to all phone owners—Apple and Android alike. It measures 90 x 90 x 30mm, but the bulk of its design does seem to cover up the main screen quite a bit.